acrostic

2 7.8

A poem or puzzle where the first letters of each line spell a word

noun
/əˈkrɔstɪk/

Literature

: acróstico

Many classrooms use acrostic poems (write a word or phrase beginning with each letter of your name or each letter of a title word) or teach the format for haiku.
acrostic poem

Then I always ask an additional question. I have a little acrostic GOAL,

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Examples

Acrostic poems have been around for centuries, probably because they're delightfully easy for poets to personalize.

Academic text (2010)
In the initial letters of the names of the gems in Macias' ring, she finds an acrostic of her name.

Academic text (1997)
The final activity was to create an acrostic poem on the word CHANGE.

Blog text (19)
I did several acrostic puzzles.

Fiction book (1990)
It was a challenge for us to make an acrostic of our own, but we did!

Blog text (15)
Acrostic poetry using the major idea of an amendment can be an effective way of conveying these ideas.

Academic text (1991)
Note that the following poem, Ripples, is an acrostic poem where the first letter of each line of the stanza forms the word "Ripples."

Academic text (2004)
The acrostic poem succeeds via the careful arrangement of letters—specifically, the first letter of every line.

Academic text (2010)
The teacher asked us to write an acrostic poem using the word FRIENDSHIP.
Her birthday card featured an acrostic that spelled out her name beautifully.

Surface Forms

acrostic singular

acrostics plural

Morphology

acrostic = acro + stich + ic

Although historically composed of the combining forms 'acro-' (high) + '-stich' (line) + the adjective suffix '-ic', these elements are not productive or familiar to average learners, so the meaning cannot be derived from the parts.

Etymology

Acrostic comes from Greek parts akros 'top' and stichos 'line'. So an acrostic is a poem or puzzle that uses the first letters of each line to spell a word, which explains the name.